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Friday, 31 August 2012

A few months ago, when I was preparing for our 40th wedding anniversary celebration, I purchased some items from a lovely shop in our nearby town, and the owner asked if I would like to supply her shop with my cards. I was delighted to do so, and a couple of weeks ago her daughter asked me to make a card to give to her best friend who had just given birth to a baby boy.

The new mother apparently loves owls, so the card had to feature one or more owls. Otherwise I could design the card however I chose.

I don't have any owl stamps, so I searched for a suitable digi stamp, and finally found this cute baby owl with a bib at 2 Cute Ink Digital Stamps. I also had to search several craft shops before I found this beautiful little owl charm. They were so nice, I bought several of them.

Inside the card, showing the little tag on which

to write a personal message.

Side view

I usually put some form on embellishment on the back of the card with my contact details sticker.

I tend to get a bit stressed when asked to make a specific card for someone, as I worry that they will have had something else in mind. After all, there are infinite shades of colours, for example, aren't there. Anyway, when I delivered this card to the shop owner's sweet daughter, she had tears in her eyes, and just kept saying "OMG, OMG", and then said "I have to pay you more, you haven't charged me enough". (Which of course I refused to accept!). I had to laugh inwardly, as I had never had that reaction before, but have to admit it felt good.

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Hello fellow crafters,
Where is this year going?? I seem to be trying to catch up all the time, and next week we will be in the first week of September. Here in Australia, Father's Day is on the first Sunday in September, so here is another card for that occasion. I made my card for John several weeks ago (here). I will place this one in a shop where I sell some of my cards, when I go into town tomorrow.

I try to keep male cards fairly basic, with a minimum of embellishments. The images are from the Graphic 45 'A Proper Gentleman' collection, layered on gold patterned card. For the embossed panel I used Cuttlebug Clockworks', and the greeting is yet another peel-off sticker.

I did not photograph the inside of the card - it just says "With love to a Classic Dad".

Wednesday, 22 August 2012

Hello fellow crafters,
I have something a little different from my usual style today, although I am back to that red and gold combo.

The card base is kraft, and I sponged around the edges with Tim Holtz 'Walnut Stain'. The designer paper is Penny Black 'Music Gold Foil', which I bought at Blade Rubber Stamps in London, during one of my trips about 3 years ago. As with so many papers I buy, I do so because I love them, then can't bear to use them, squirrelling them away sometimes for many years. Yes, I KNOW I am in good company - so many of you out there in blogland do the same thing, (plus stroke and even sniff our papers). Some people may say we are sad little bunnies, but we know we are oh so happy in our little worlds, aren't we!

I love the image, and bought it at a big craft show at Esher, near London, on another trip. It was on an A4 sheet of toppers at a stand where one can fill a box of paper, card, or toppers for a bargain price. A lot of you living in the UK probably know the stand I mean, as they apparently go to most of the shows.

The alphabet stickers have been in my stash for 'donkey's years', and I forgot I had them until I decided to organise a big box of bits and bobs in the back of a cupboard. The photo does not show the tiles very clearly, but each one has tiny music on them. I cut each tile from kraft and sponged the edges as per the card base.

This is the first time I have used red with kraft, but I think I will be repeating this combination, as I really like it. Methinks some Christmas cards????

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Today I am not showing you my cards, but instead 3 gorgeous cards made by wonderful and talented friends. I should have shown them to you earlier as they were created for John and me for our 40th wedding anniversary last month. We also received lots of beautiful cards bought in shops, and they too will be kept and treasured.

This sweet card is by Margaret, a lovely, very musically talented lady, who has only just started card-making. She has used Stampin' Up products, and as soon as I saw the card, I was instantly reminded of Delftware china, of which I love and have 3 pieces. We have had a lovely afternoon here, today, playing with our 'goodies', and I have been showing her some new techniques (lots of homework for you Margaret, lol).

The second card is by my dear friend, Di, who has also not been making cards for very long. I love the way she has fussy-cut around the glasses to appear as if they have red wine in them. As often as we can, Di, myself, and a mutual friend, Leanne get together for a day of laughing, drinking tea, eating chocolates, and cardmaking. In fact we had a great day at Di's home last weekend, all making a start on our Christmas cards.

The third card is by my dear blogging friend in the UK, Pauline. Pop over to her blog and check out her gorgeous creations. She is on the Design Team for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. I can't believe how many similarities there are with Pauline and Di's cards - the horizontal ribbon, the glittered design paper, and Pauline said she seldom uses peel-off stickers, but decided to use them on this card. Although red was an obvious choice, it being our Ruby anniversary, no-one knew that I was using lots of gold in all my decorations on the night of our party (here).

Don't you think I am lucky to have such talented friends, who have each taken the time to create these beautiful cards as lasting reminders of such a special occasion. Thank you so very much, Margaret, Di, and Pauline.

Monday, 20 August 2012

Hello fellow crafters,
After a bit of overload using bright colours, particularly reds, in recent posts (except for Scarlette's card here), I have been 'itching' to make a card in pastels. There is a new challenge site called In The Pink, and for their launch they have chosen '50 Shades of Pink'. My card has nowhere near that many shades of pink (I would love to see one that has), but I have still used quite a few.

This little bear stamp has 2 companion stamps, sold separately, and all three were among my earliest stamp purchases, many, many moons ago. I coloured her with Promarkers.

For several months I have been seeing these gorgeous little leaf sprays on cards in various blogs, and tried to find out their brand and name (or even if they were a die), and 2 weeks ago my quest ended. Yesterday I travelled to Newcastle to the annual Craft and Sewing Show, and along with several other goodies, mainly dies, I purchased the Cheery Lynn 'Flourish Leaf Strip' die. I totally love them, and I'm sure they will be making frequent appearances in future.

The easel card fully opened.

I bought the Marianne 'Baby' die several months ago, and I am ashamed to admit that this is the first time I have used it. However, it is so beautiful, I am sure I will use it more often.

I removed the portion of the Memory Box 'La Rue Flourish' die-cut that would have been hidden behind the stamped image, and used it to embellish my contact detail sticker on the back of the card.

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

I do appear to be on a seaside 'kick', don't I, what with my last post and this one. I am hoping that John does not see this before Father's Day, which is on the first Sunday in September, here in Australia. This image reminds me of the wonderful late spring, and summer I spent in the UK in 1989, much of it in the seaside villages and towns of Cornwall, Devon and many other counties. Many UK residents may remember that it was the warmest summer in several decades

This is the first time this stamp has seen ink. I bought it during our recent trip to New Zealand in a lovely shop, The Papercraft Room, in beautiful Wanganui. It was fun to colour, but kept me busy for ages. I have added 3D Lacquer to the windows of the beach huts, and the glass of the lighthouse. The jury is still out on my choice of designer paper. I am still trying to use up my HUGE collection of peel-off stickers - with a fair stretch of one's imagination, this border peel-off looks like waves.

Several years ago I wanted to add some twine to a card with an old sailing ship image, so surfed the net and came up with here. For the knot on this card, I modified the Carrick Bend knot by using 2 thicknesses of twine, and at times I have even used 3 for a larger knot. I am fond of this knot and have used it on quite a few other cards with a nautical theme. I'm sorry for the 'yucky' colours of the above photo, but I forgot to take a close-up of the knot today when I took the other photos - this one was taken under a lamp placed on the dining table. The cardstock is actually dark blue, on white, and the twine is off-white.

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Have you all been enjoying the Olympic Games? My favourite part is the equestrian events, having been involved in showjumping and dressage in my younger days. However, TV coverage of equestrian events is very sparse here in Australia.

I normally hate the terrible heat of summer, but with all the very cold weather we have been having here, I thought I would show you 2 summery CAS cards. They are both using stamps I have had for many years.

This card I made for a friend, who owns a little holiday hut on the edge of a lake. The hut image is a Print Block stamp, and the seagulls are a tiny stamp by Stamp-it. The images are coloured with Promarkers, and I used Spellbinder dies to cut the squares and rectangles. I bought several sheets of the greetings stickers, and have usually coloured them with Promarkers to co-ordinate with the image, but this time, I have left the greeting white.

A super quick and easy card for a friend's daughter to give to her Dad on Father's Day. The striped paper has been in my off-cuts box for 'donkey's years'. The tiny umbrella brad was in a bargain box of un-named embellishments at a craft fair many years ago. I only bought 1 bag of 5 umbrellas, but so wish I had bought several bags.

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Hello fellow crafters,
I have always loved Penny Black stamps, and when I saw this one a few months ago, I knew it would be perfect for my card to give John on our 40th Anniversary. We are owned by 2 cats - beautiful boys, one is white and ginger, and the other is a grey and black striped tabby.

This card is very similar in design to the one I made for Scarlette's birthday recently (here). I had the heart & border dies on my desk, so I thought "why not".

I love making easel cards - although they are so simple to construct, they always intrigue non-cardmakers.

Inside the card, showing the tag for my handwritten message to John, and the 'bracket' to hold it.
I have had this gorgeous paper for ages, and have been reluctant to use it, as I only had one sheet, but as I made the card for John, I feel I still can see and feel it when I want. It is very heavy weight, and has the most luxurious texture. Come on peeps, be honest...I KNOW many of you have the same attachment to some papers.

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Hello fellow crafters,
It is a week since I last posted, as once again, I have not been well (here). One of the effects of liver disease is nausea, often resulting in 'head-in-a-bucket' sessions, lasting for many hours.

As most of you know, John and I recently celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary, with a wonderful evening shared with friends. We left for New Zealand the next morning and I have only just organised my photos.

I had intended to use all the original decorations from our wedding cake, but the main one was slightly discoloured, so I used a fresh one (I bought the basics, then put it together, adding my own bits and pieces). The little doves however, are from the original. I made a traditional rich fruit cake 2 months earlier, and every few days until I iced and decorated it, I turned it over, and sprinkled it with brandy. The knife is a family heirloom and has been used to cut every celebration cake in John's family for about 120 years. Since his parents' passing several decades ago, we have continued the tradition. The photo does not show it, but the blade has the most delicate engraving over its entire surface.

I printed the invitations on white pearlised paper, punched the edges with my Martha Stewart 'Iron Fence' border punch, then adhered them to ruby pearlised cardstock.

Guests' names for the placecards were printed on lightweight card, then cut out with a Spellbinder 'Labels One' die, then adhered to the next size diecut of Bazzill cardstock. I didn't count how many flowers I punched altogether from heavyweight gold wrapping paper for all projects, but believe me, there were lots!

I experimented with the size of the tiny baskets for each guest, so that a Rocher chocolate would fit perfectly.

The serviette rings were so time consuming to make. I covered little strips of white cardstock with the gold gift wrap, then added the red bands, gold border stickers, and triple layer flowers. The reverse side of the gift wrap was white, so I coloured the back of every flower on each of the projects with a red Promarker - very messy and fiddly ! It was worth the trouble though, as the red was reflected in the gold of the layers below.

Because of safety restrictions, the restaurant did not allow real candles, so I searched for, and found these little battery operated tea lights. They actually flickered like real flames, and looked so pretty among all the red and gold on the table.

While we waited to board our flight to New Zealand the morning after our celebration, I wrote a "Thank You" to all our guests, then posted them at the Airport P.O. Because these were being posted, I used red 'Stickles' in the flower centres, instead of the beads in all the other flowers. I used my 'Jamara' embossing folder, and gold peel-off stickers, on red Bazzill cardstock.

I made several floral arrangements, and kept them fairly simple. My original bridal bouquet was red carnations, so carnations were my obvious choice for our 40th celebration. These blooms were so beautifully perfect, many guests could not believe they were real.
(The pretty paper place mats were only $2.50 for a packet of 30! - I love bargins!).

This has been a long post, so thank you for looking.
Until next time, hugs,
Jennifer. x

About Me

I am 60+, married to a wonderful man since 1972, have recently retired from professional singing, and also recently completed a Bachelor degree at Uni. I have been making cards for many years, and occasionally dabble in scrapbooking. You are welcome to use my cards as inspiration, but please do not copy, then claim it as your own work.